The Catholic Church in the United States will celebrate National Migration Week from January 7-14, 2018. We have celebrated National Migration Week in the United States for nearly 50 years. This week is an opportunity for us to reflect on the circumstances confronting migrants, including immigrants, refugees and survivors of human trafficking. National Migration Week culminates on the Vatican’s World Day of Migrants and Refugees, January 14.
The theme for 2018 is “Many Journeys, One Family.” This theme invites us to remember that each of our families has a migration story—some recent and others in the distant past. Regardless of where we are and where we came from, we remain part of the human family and are called to live in solidarity with one another. We celebrate this theme during the Share the Journey campaign, a global effort by the Church to show love to our migrant and refugee neighbors.
In our contemporary culture, we often fail to encounter migrants as people, instead seeing them as unknown others, if we even notice them at all. We do not take the time to engage migrants in a meaningful way, as fellow children of God, but remain aloof, suspicious or fearful. During National Migration Week, let us all take the opportunity to engage migrants as community members, neighbors and friends.
*Source: www.sharejourney.org
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